Heroes and Villains of Premier League Saturday, Week 2: Newcastle, Arsenal and Liverpool

Saturday’s installment of gameweek 2 in the Premier League today wasn’t the most memorable, but there were still enough moments to deserve recognition.

Here are our heroes and villains from Premier League Saturday, Gameweek 2 of the 2013/14 season:

Lucky:

Olivier Giroud. Sometimes the ball falls kindly to a footballer, and today was the perfect example as a shot from an Arsenal teammate rocketed directly to the feet of Giroud who was lucky to be at the right place and the right time. All he had to do was to poke the ball into the back of the net for a lucky goal.

His performance for the remainder of the game was exquisite and completely deserving of praise.

Unlucky:

Marouane Fellaini. Everton had 22 shots on goal against West Bromwich Albion today, but were unfortunate not to score when Fellaini’s shot — late in the game — beat the Baggies goalkeeper but struck the post. The match ended nil-nil.

Hero of the day:

Lukas Podolski. What a difference a week makes for Arsenal, and in this case, what a performance by Podolski especially in Arsenal’s 3-1 victory against Fulham at Craven Cottage. It wasn’t just his two goals that make him deserving of the ‘hero of the day’ honors, but he gave an inspired performance exactly when Arsenal needed it most.

Save of the day:

Simon Mignolet. Last week, we gave the honors to Brad Guzan for his incredible point-blank save against Tomas Rosicky, but we could have easily given it to Simon Mignolet for his penalty save against Stoke in the dying minutes of the match at Anfield. Mignolet continued to show his worth to Liverpool today with a wonderful acrobatic save to palm Christian Benteke’s shot past the post.

Goal of the day:

Daniel Sturridge. For the second Saturday in a row, an English striker grabbed the goal of the day. Last week, it was Danny Welbeck’s goal against Swansea. Today, it was Daniel Sturridge’s incredible run, dribble, feigning this way and that, rounding the keeper and managing to keep his balance as he knocked the ball into the back of the net against Aston Villa.

What was he thinking?

Yoan Gouffran. Nothing seems to be going right for Newcastle United right now. After Sammy Ameobi struck a beautiful free kick against West Ham United, the shot hit the post and rebounded directly to Gouffran in front of the goal. All he had to do was to knock it forward into the net, but his half-hearted attempt proceeded to hit it wide of the goal, giving West Ham United a deserved draw and another disappointing result by Newcastle.

About The Author

Publisher of World Soccer Talk, Christopher Harris founded the site in 2005. He has been interviewed by The New York Times, The Guardian and several other publications. Plus he has made appearances on NPR, BBC World, CBC, BBC Five Live, talkSPORT and beIN SPORT.
Harris, who was born and raised in Wales, has lived in Florida since 1984, and supported Swansea City since 1979. Last but not least, he got engaged during half-time of a MLS game.